Blanche Lincoln Adds More Clients, Increases Lobbying
Former Sen.
Blanche Lincoln
, D-Ark., has added three more clients this month to her lobbying activities after she registered her first lobbying client in April. All three clients have Arkansas relationships, but they broaden her subject matter beyond her agriculture expertise as former chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
After Lincoln left Congress in the beginning of 2011, she joined Alston & Bird LLP and had a two-year waiting period before she could lobby Congress. In April she registered to lobby for Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on retail industry matters.
On May 13 she registered to lobby for the Finnish company Nokia Inc., a company dealing with mobile communications equipment, info tech and apps, and network equipment and solutions. The company has some operations in Arkansas. Specifically, the lobbying was on policy issues relating to Section 337 cases at the International Trade Commission.
On May 22 she registered to lobby for the Waterways Council Inc., a trade association for well-maintained system of inland waterways. Specifically, the lobbying was on S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act of 2013, and provisions related to Inland Waterways Trust Fund. The Mississippi river forms the eastern boundary of the state.
On May 22 Lincoln registered to lobby for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, a trade association for interstate natural gas pipelines. Lobbying was in issues related to natural gas. Major interstate natural gas pipelines run through Arkansas.
All of these clients also use Alston & Bird’s Robert Holifield as a lobbyist. Holifield was Lincoln’s staff director at the Senate Agriculture Committee.